'Here We Go Again': Tom Cotton Blasts Democrats' 'Rank Hypocrisy' Amid Discussion To Block CR

9 hours ago

During remarks on the Senate floor Thursday, Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR) spoke about Democrats' opposition to the continuing resolution.

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Transcript

00:00Here we go again. In just a little over 24 hours, federal funding will run out and the

00:08government will shut down. Let me state for the record that my Republican colleagues and

00:14I are ready to get on with matters and ready to fund the government for the rest of this

00:20year. And we all know that the faster we move it over the finish line, the faster our federal

00:26government can get to work on behalf of the American people and implement the agenda that

00:32the American people elected us to get done. But after our Democratic friends had a nice

00:39long lunch on Capitol Hill yesterday, Senator Schumer took to the floor to announce that

00:45their caucus will not support funding the government because, as he put it, Republicans

00:52chose a partisan path. But here's what Senator Schumer is really saying. Democrats would

00:58rather shut down the government than pass the funding bill just to shift blame to Republicans

01:04for our current funding predicament. Democrats are going to shut down the government to protect

01:10the government. In the next 24 hours, even, Democrats are planning to use the very same

01:16filibuster they have opposed and tried to abolish to shut down the government. In the

01:23last administration, former Vice President Kamala Harris said that Joe Biden and the

01:27Democrats are, quote, kind of done with those archaic Senate rules, end quote. But here

01:36they are using those archaic Senate rules to shut down the government. There's nothing

01:41that could explain such a drastic change of heart among my Democratic colleagues other

01:46than rank hypocrisy. Democrats are quick to criticize Republican efforts to eliminate

01:52waste, fraud and abuse in our bureaucracies on behalf of hardworking American taxpayers.

02:00Yet in the same breath, Democrats are fighting to withhold the paychecks of air traffic controllers,

02:06our troops, federal custodial staff. They can't be serious. The level of hypocrisy displayed

02:15by the minority leader and my Democratic colleagues is appalling to the office they

02:22hold and the constituents they serve. A government shutdown, of course, doesn't just afford doesn't

02:28just affect the federal workforce. For instance, food inspectors would be forced to stop their

02:34work interrupting our food supply chains. It's as if the Democrats are trying to finish

02:38Joe Biden's job of driving up prices at the grocery store. So let me remind everyone of

02:45why we are on the verge of a government shutdown. Just a few months ago, Senator Schumer and

02:53my Democratic colleagues held the majority here. During that time, Republicans joined

03:01with Democrats to vote 11 out of 12 government funding bills from committee. 11 out of 12.

03:10Six of them were unanimous. The other five passed with overwhelming bipartisan support.

03:18That would seem to be a great accomplishment in a too often divided Washington. 11 out

03:24of 12 bills, six unanimous, five with overwhelming bipartisan support. But even though we had

03:32all those spending bills ready to go last summer on a bipartisan basis, then-majority

03:37leader Schumer failed to bring a single bill to the floor from August to the end of last

03:45year. Not a single bill. Even though, yet let me say it again, 11 out of 12 passed out

03:51of committee, six were unanimous, and the other five were overwhelmingly bipartisan.

03:58Not a single one. Senator Schumer had 224 days to bring those bills to the floor for

04:05a vote. 224 days. What did we do instead? He chose to prioritize election year stunts,

04:16trying to distract voters from Joe Biden's disastrous border crisis. He had a vote on

04:22mandating government-funded fertility treatments for biological men. More important than funding

04:29the government. We also confirmed a whole host of unqualified Biden nominees you've

04:37never heard of for jobs you didn't know existed. Not to mention a whole host of unqualified

04:44judges in states with two Democratic senators who couldn't have gotten confirmed for the

04:49first four years and were only jammed through in a lame duck session. When we also could

04:56have been passing those spending bills to fund the government, so we wouldn't be in

05:00this position. Senator Schumer claims to care about the livelihoods of federal workers,

05:06but as leader, he seemed more preoccupied with putting on a big political show. And

05:13yet, here's Senator Schumer claiming that Republican partisanship is the reason for

05:18shutting down the government. Spare me. It continued this year. Since Republicans took

05:27over, he blocked negotiations that would have made this funding bill a bipartisan effort

05:33from the start. Senator Collins, the chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, and

05:37Congressman Cole, the chair of the House Appropriations Committee, made multiple, multiple offers to

05:44their Democratic counterparts to negotiate on a bipartisan basis government funding bills

05:51just like we did last summer. But no, Senator Schumer blocked it time and time again until

05:58just a few days ago. Yet now, supposedly, the clock has run out. And he wants another

06:0630 days. Another 30 days when he had 224 days last year to do this. When we've had over

06:1860 days this year to negotiate on a bipartisan basis. Now, the time for those negotiations

06:25has regrettably passed. It's time to finish last year's business and move on to this year's

06:31business. And Democrats have one last chance to join Republicans and support a simple yearlong

06:39funding bill. Republicans invite and encourage our Democratic colleagues to join us in this

06:45effort to keep the government funded for the American people we all serve. Shutting our

06:51government down, as many of my Democratic colleagues are apparently considering, is

06:57not just some political stunt. There are real and consequential national security risks

07:02if they choose to go through with this reckless scheme. A government shutdown will disrupt

07:07military training and could force us to cancel planned exercises with our allies and partners.

07:12These are the very same alliances that Democrats claim to care so much about supporting and

07:17preserving. Furthermore, a shutdown will disrupt ongoing work to modernize our nuclear

07:22forces, which is already behind schedule. Any further delay could make this bad situation

07:29even worse. And the potential Schumer shutdown will hurt military preparedness by slowing

07:36recruiting, creating uncertainty in our defense supply chains, and impacting our ability to

07:40produce badly needed munitions. This is not the message of strength that we want to send

07:47to the allies we stand beside and the enemies we stand against. To my Democratic colleagues

07:54who still believe that shutting down the government is the principal choice, that you need to

07:57again, it's hard for me to explain their position, shut down the government to protect the government,

08:04let me ask you simply, what does voting no accomplish? Six months ago, Senator Schumer

08:10said, quote, if the government shuts down, it will be average Americans who suffer most,

08:17end quote. That was Senator Schumer. What's happened in the last six months? Nothing as

08:25far as I can tell, except who the American people elected to lead the government. So if the

08:32Schumer shutdown stunt is just a threat to get Republicans to agree to a fake short term

08:38extension, that brings us right back to where we are now. Again, what's the point? The Democrats'

08:46hypocritical arguments reveal once again, they're not serious about putting their duty to the

08:51American people above partisanship, pettiness and pride. I invite them all to justify the

08:58Schumer shutdown to the parents who must postpone a trip to a national park with their

09:03children after months of saving and planning. Or explain your reasoning for the Schumer

09:09shutdown to the veteran who has already taken a day off work to sign up for health care

09:14at his regional benefits office, only to find it closed. Or defend the Schumer shutdown

09:21to the federal employee who puts all of her groceries on a credit card to make sure there's

09:25enough money left at the end of the month to cover her rent. My friends, we have two

09:31choices before us, and they're quite simple. Either keep the government open and working

09:35for the people or shut it down to do what exactly I don't know. I think we all agree

09:43that the American people deserve better than a government that is a day late and a couple

09:49billion dollars short. So I encourage my Democratic colleagues vote with us to simply fund the

09:58government. Let's not have a Schumer shutdown.

'Here We Go Again': Tom Cotton Blasts Democrats' 'Rank Hypocrisy' Amid Discussion To Block CR

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